A brilliantly flawed bunch of bs. I would refute it, but I just don't know where to begin. I will just leave you wit this question. How do you think the SOFA would have been honored by the Iraqis? Would soldiers, diplomats and contractors have been subjected to Sharia Law?

December 14, 2008 press conference

On December 14, 2008, U.S. President George W. Bush signed the security pact with Iraq. In his fourth and final trip to Iraq, the president appeared with Iraq's prime minister and said more work is to be done.[59] During the press conference discussing the signing of the pact[60] with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in his palace in the heavily fortified Green Zone, President Bush dodged two shoes thrown at him from the audience. The man who threw his shoes, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist with Egypt-based al-Baghdadia television network, could be heard yelling in Arabic: "This is a farewell... you dog!" as he threw his first shoe, and when throwing his second shoe al-Zaidi could be heard yelling: "This is for the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!”[61] While pinned on the ground by security personnel, he screamed: "You killed the Iraqis!"[62] As the man’s screaming could be heard outside, Bush said “That’s what people do in a free society, draw attention to themselves."

Two New York Times reporters described al-Zaidi as having been "embraced around the Arab world".[63] Al-Zaidi found support from thousands of protesters in Iraq and his employer. A statement released by Al-Baghdadia television said, "Al-Baghdadia television demands that the Iraqi authorities immediately release their stringer Muntadhar al-Zaidi, in line with the democracy and freedom of expression that the American authorities promised the Iraqi people".[64] The "vast majority" of viewers of al-Baghdadia TV who telephoned to the station in order to express their opinions said that they approved al-Zaidi's actions.[65]

The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki called the shoe throwing "a shameful savage act" and demanded a public apology from Al Baghdadia. "The act damaged the reputation of the Iraqi journalists and journalism in general," a statement said.[66][67]

FF, may I note that the Greeks, Persians, Mongols, British, Russians as well as the US have made the mistake of going into Afghanistan only to find (a) it's a damn inhospitable place to fight particularly if you have long supply lines, (b) the Afghans appear to consider battling invaders and each other the National Pastime (think baseball with IEDs and rifles instead of balls and bats), and (c) about the only thing you can do is put up a cordon sanitaire around the traditional Afghan tribal borders and shoot anything coming towards you - repeatedly. So making this out as a screwup by Obama simply reflects a monumental ignorance of Afghan history on your part. Mr. Obama's mistake was in supporting the Bush ground efforts in Afghanistan on the heels of the relatively recent Russian a$$ whuppin there. Mr. Obama should have hightailed it out of there about 15 minutes into his Presidency come hell or high water which the TPa$$hats were gonna hit him with in any case (and as they are doing now). Remember one of the most prophetic statements in the history of film, "Never get involved in a land war in Asia or bet against a Sicilian when death is on the line." Sadly, some folks never saw The Princess Bride or were too busy necking with their date to pay attention to the dialog....

Typical right wing revisionist history. Bush ordered the invasion and occupation of Iraq even though it was not a real threat to our national security. That war of choice put Iraq in complete chaos starting a civil war that is still being waged and a creating what is now ISIS. Osama Bin Laden was cornered in Tora Bora in December 2001 by US special forces and rather then go after him as the military requested, Bush decided to concentrate on invading Iraq instead.

Both Iraq and Afghanistan are Bush's wars of choice. Both are disasters and neither was ever needed.

OBL was in Tora Bora the CIA and the Pentagon both confirmed it in the 9/11 commission report and the commanders on the ground asked for additional troops to complete the mission and were turned down twice. There were around 2,000 U.S. troops in or near the Afghan theater at the time. At the U.S. airbase known as K2 in Uzbekistan were stationed some 1,000 soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division, whose specialty is fighting in harsh terrain. Hundreds of those soldiers had already deployed to Bagram Air Force Base, 40 miles north of Kabul. In addition, 1,200 Marines were stationed at Forward Operating Base Rhino, near Kandahar, from the last week of November onward. Brigadier General James Mattis, the commander of the Marines in the Afghan theater, reportedly asked to send his men into Tora Bora, but his request was turned down. This was mid December and Rumsfeld was busy planning the Iraq invasion.

UN resolution 1441 was being complied with, there were inspectors on the ground who had access to all of the designated sites. Bush wanted to go into Iraq and he ordered the invasion and occupation on his own because the UN would never vote in favor of it as long as Iraq was in compliance. Saddam was a murderous gangster not a religious fanatic and was not a threat to us.

The only thing OIF and OEF accomplished besides creating more terrorists and civil war, has been to create almost 100,000 casualties among our brave men and women in uniform and add between 3-4 trillion to our national debt.

This was 2001 not a decade later when Al Qaeda had years to prepare. US troops we would utilize were specially trained for these types of missions. I presently have a member of the Ranger team that worked directly under Gary Bernsten, the CIA chief conducting the operation in Tora Bora in one of the PTSD groups I co-consul and have had members of the 10th Mountain division previously. They all knew exactly what to expect and were confident in their abilities.

This was simply a matter of not wanting to commit resources that would be needed for an invasion and occupation of Iraq, one of Bush's wars of choice.

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